


Crimson Regret

by Riza_B



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:55:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28504836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riza_B/pseuds/Riza_B
Summary: One of my "Spotify 100" writing prompts for Tourniquet by Evanescence.Parallel AU. Jaune caught up with Cinder during their travels in Anima. He decides to face her alone, rather than risk the rest of RNJR. Neo finds him near death as she hunts the maiden herself
Relationships: Jaune Arc/Neopolitan
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Crimson Regret

Four months. It had been four months since the fall of Beacon Academy at the hands of the White Fang and the Grimm. Four months since Cinder got what she wanted. Four months since Roman died. Four months. 

After the fall, it had taken a few days for Neo to heal from her wounds, holed up in one of her and Roman’s many hideouts. The muffled sounds of destruction and Grimm attacks became more and more infrequent as the days went on. Eventually the military took back control of the city. Well, everything besides the school grounds. Those were overwhelmed by Grimm searching for something. 

But Neo didn’t care about whatever treasures were hidden away in the school. She had only returned to those crumbling buildings once and she had found what she wanted. The beat-up bowler cap rested by her side. 

It had taken another day to scrounge around their old hideouts, now overrun with refugees and soldiers. But eventually, Neo had found everything she and Roman had collected on their contacts, on Cinder Fall. 

As far as Neo was concerned, Cinder brought them into this deadly game. Cinder convinced Roman that helping her take down the huntsman academy would lead to his biggest payday ever. Cinder ordered Roman to get himself captured and have her break into the Atlesian battleship to break him out. And it was Cinder that allowed the Grimm into the city, through whatever dark means, that destroyed the battleship Roman was aboard. 

Their old records didn’t have much information. But it was enough. Neo had tailed Cinder a few times throughout their dealings. Roman never trusted anyone, with good reason. The witch had some allies in high and low places. The infamous serial killer Tyrian Callows and the defamed Atlesian scientist Arthur Watts both commonly contacted her. She also kept an airship near the outskirts of the city, which had disappeared the last night Beacon stood. Neo had snuck aboard once before though, its flight logs indicated it regularly flew back and forth from Vale to somewhere far to the north, west of Solitas. 

That lead didn’t get Neo anywhere. She had commissioned most of the savings Roman had on getting a flight in that direction. The airship was nearly brought down before it could even see land. 

Neo then spent the rest of Roman’s money on her old contacts. Everyone she had ever known before she worked with Roman was all too willing to keep an eye out for any sign of Cinder for the right price. 

Which led her to Mistral. It seemed like while she had been searching for Cinder, Cinder had been searching for one of the surviving Beacon students. One with a little red hood. Neo immediately told her contacts to withhold any information to Cinder until she had arrived and booked her boat ticket. 

\---

Neo followed her contacts’ last known slice of information. Apparently, the four Beacon students had recently passed through a town dealing with a Geist problem. She was only three days behind the students. With any luck, that meant she was right behind Cinder. 

The townsfolk didn’t seem to remember much about the students other than what they had accomplished for the town. Neo pretended to let on that she was also a Beacon student, just looking for her classmates. Her torn and burned clothing made her look the part. The locals accepted her after that; the blacksmith most of all. He explained that when one of the boys requested his armor be upgraded, he had mentioned that it would need to last him a trip from here to Haven.   
Haven Academy.   
Neo had a direction. 

\--- 

Jaune panted as he sheathed his sword and turned off his training video. Hearing Pyrrha’s voice every night had been the only thing keeping him together since Beacon. The late-night training brought back good memories, and it kept him from being alone with his thoughts for too long before he fell asleep. 

RNJR had made camp on the outskirts of another small village. Jaune had made sure he was deep enough into the forest so as to not disturb any of the residents or his friends. He started to make his way back to the others when he heard a familiar voice. 

He followed the voice to the edge of the tree line outside the village. Mercury Black was talking to someone out of view in the trees. Jaune leaned in closer to try to make out what he was saying. Mercury had disappeared at Beacon and no one had known where he nor Emerald had gone. Jaune had hoped it was Emerald he was talking to. Maybe they could join RJNR on the way to Haven? 

Jaune was about to step out into view to talk to his old classmate when two more figures walked out into the clearing. Sure enough Emerald emerged, followed by Cinder. He gripped Crocea Mors with white knuckles as he listened to the woman. 

“Little Red has to be around here somewhere. The last town said their group was heading this way, didn’t they?” 

Mercury replied. “Yeah, that’s what they said. But they’re a bunch of hick farmers in the middle of nowhere. Maybe they were wrong.”

Cinder flexed her hand and turned quickly to Mercury, “they better not have been wrong! We only have so much time for these excursions before Salem catches onto what we’re doing.” Her sudden outburst seemed to have caused her some pain, because she clutched her left arm and nearly dropped to her knees. 

Jaune let out a sigh and clutched the red sash around his hips. This might be his chance. Whatever Ruby had done to her seemed to have really hurt her, and she wasn’t healed yet. But he also didn’t know how deadly she still was. And with Mercury and Emerald here with her, it might be a harder fight than he’d want RNJR to face. 

But he could. He might be able to challenge Cinder alone. Get her to fight him one-on-one. Then Jaune would make sure it was over, one way or the other. 

He followed the trio as best he could out of the forest and into the quiet town. Most of the villagers were asleep hours ago. Only a few lights were still on, and maybe four guards patrolled the walls. Cinder led them through the town until they arrived at an old storehouse. 

Jaune waited outside a few minutes, collecting his nerves and drafting a quick automatic message to Ruby, just in case the worst happened. He took in a deep breath and unsheathed Crocea Mors. 

\--- 

Neo arrived in the village a few hours before daybreak. The patrolling guards didn’t notice her jump the wall and slip down an alley. From there, it was easy to make herself look like a nightguard and walk around without a worry. 

Almost everything was quiet and peaceful. Animals slept in their pens. Farmers and workers slept in their small homes. Nothing seemed out of place. No sign of the kids or Cinder yet. Neo was starting to worry she had beat them there and would have to stick around a few days when she heard voices coming from the storehouse. 

Neo ran to the building, leapt unto the low roof, and climbed to a broken plank to peer inside. The interior was well lit by the dying embers of what must have been a massive firestorm. Embers and ash littered the entire building. Emerald and Mercury were standing near the storehouse door, backs to the wall, terrified of what had recently happened. In the center of the room, Cinder stood over the body of a young boy. 

‘Stood’ was the wrong description, Neo realized. Cinder was floating above the ground in a whirlwind as fire lit her eyes. A shadowy arm stretched from her left shoulder to the boy’s abdomen. 

“You thought you could match me? You? You are nothing, just an idiot with a death wish. And I’m happy to oblige you.” Cinder twisted her hand, tearing through the boys body. “But before I do, you’re going to tell me where exactly Ruby is hiding.”

The boy coughed blood and stared at the far wall, away from Cinder and opposite the door. “You won’t find her.”

Cinder growled. No doubt it would be a loud scream if she wasn’t concerned with alerting the local guards. She dug her claws deeper. “I /will/ find Ruby Rose. You can tell me now, or we can see how long it takes for you to bleed to death.”

The boy shook with pain. It took him a few more twists of her claws to reply. Neo could barely hear his answer. “She’s gone! They headed back south yesterday to take the ferry to Haven.”

Cinder looked at him incredulously. “They left and you aren’t with them? I somehow don’t believe that.”

The boy looked like he might have said something else but slumped to the side. Cinder growled again and wiped her claws clean on her red dress. “Fine. Emerald, Mercury, we’re heading north.”

Her two protégées followed her out of the building. “But didn’t he say south?”

“Dear sweet Mercury. That’s exactly why we’re going north. Now come on, I want to be out of here before sunrise.”

Neo turned away and slammed her hand against the roof. She wanted to go after Cinder. Everything she had planned for was to get her within reach of that witch. But those powers were extraordinary. And with both of her helpers, Nep didn’t think she stood much of a chance as of yet. Then there were the images. Images of the boy in the storehouse below. Images of the last time she saw Roman. 

She fought with the guilt as she watched a lonely crow circle the town high above them in the early morning twilight. She jumped down to the road, turned to the north road, then back to the storehouse. She clenched her fist and kicked the door open. 

\--- 

Even with what she saw from her vantage point, Neo wasn’t ready for what she found inside. The room smelt like blood and smoke. Ash littered the air. A pool of blood was starting to form around the boy laying in the middle of the floor. 

The boy was barely breathing. His hands moved ever so slightly towards his shield, and the image etched below its crest. 

Neo recognized him now. She had seen him during the Vytal festival. She only remembered him because he was the partner to Pyrrha Nikos.   
Pyrrha Nikos  
Her sash wrapped around his hips, its red fabric soaking up his blood. 

His words were nearly a sigh, no louder than his breaths. “Pyrrha. I’m… sorry. I couldn’t avenge… But you… won’t be alone…” He gave a pained smile. 

Neo felt her heart drop. Something in her kicked in. She couldn’t stop herself. Her semblance glamoured herself as his partner and her legs rushed to his side. Her hands clamped down on his wound clutching the jacket she had torn off. His blood soaked into that too but started to slow. Neo switched to one hand pressing her jacket as hard as she could as she rifled through his belongings. She couldn’t cry out for help, but she had to find a way to try. 

One of the boy’s hands brushed against hers. Neo turned to see the boy staring at her, tears in his eyes. “I really… am dying… then. It… it’s good to…” He coughed up more blood onto the floor. Neo couldn’t look him in the eyes. She chose this form to keep him from panicking if he saw a stranger run up. And maybe she wanted him to have something, any comfort, if she couldn’t save him. 

She brushed his hair from his face and continued searching through his belongings. Finally, she found his scroll. The last contact in his phone was listed as ‘Crater Face’ but the image was a red rose. Neo pushed dial and slid the phone out onto the street, hoping it’d have better reception. 

The blood started to seep up through her saturated jacket and covered her hand. Neo grabbed more of the garment and layered it on top of his wound. She pressed down with both hands again, trying to summon every ounce of strength she had. 

The boy’s eyes were closed now, his breathing even slower. But his hand still found its way to hers. He lightly squeezed her fingers. She didn’t know what more she could do for him. It was all she could to try to stanch his bleeding. She looked around desperately for something, anything to help. She wished with everything she had she could cry out. 

A sudden flapping of wings outside made Neo turn her head towards the door. A tall man with pitch black hair and pale red eyes ran into the room. 

The shock of the man crashing into the storehouse was enough for neo to lose her glamour. It faded away into a pink cloud of dust as her real appearance came back. 

The man took in the situation in a heartbeat. He ran to the boy’s side next to her and tried to get him to respond. “Jaune! Jaune can you hear me? Dammit kid don’t you dare die on me!” He then shouted towards the door. “We need a doctor! We need a fucking doctor right now!”

Neo nudged the man’s arm with her shoulder and motioned towards the boy’s hand barely holding hers. Trying to tell the man that Jaune was still responsive, even slightly. 

He looked her up and down then nodded approvingly, “I don’t know who you are but, just keep doing what you’re doing!” He tousled the boy’s hair and leapt to his feet. “I’m getting the doctor myself.” 

Neo nodded and turned back to Jaune. She heard the flapping of wings again but didn’t dare to turn away. Her eyes were getting blurry. Tears started to roll down her cheeks and she didn’t understand why. She didn’t know this boy. She didn’t owe him anything. She had fought his friends /multiple/ times. But the tears streamed anyway. Her arms had gone numb a long time ago, but they kept pushing on.

More noise from outside. An older woman in simple clothes came in with the man from before close behind. She sat her bag on the ground and set to work sizing up her patient. The woman instructed Neo to keep pressure on the boys wound until she instructed otherwise. Neo gestured that she understood. 

The man then turned to Neo. His face looked both young and old at the same time. Like he had been through too much for someone his age. “You wouldn’t have happened to have seen what happened did you? “

Neo nodded. She tried to look composed and determined, but the tears made it difficult. 

The man crouched down to be near the boy and the doctor. “Know who did this to Jaune?” 

Neo nodded again. She transformed herself into Cinder for a moment before changing back. 

The man glared toward the boy’s wounds. “Cinder Fall.” His low voice and furious tone made Neo think he had crossed paths with the woman before. 

The doctor motioned for Neo to release her hands and step back. Neo did as she was told and tried to stand up. She could finally feel the drain to her energy the ordeal had taken as she stumbled backward. 

The man leapt up and caught her before she completely fell over. She looked up at him and hoped he knew it meant ‘thank you.’ He helped her lean against the wall, then handed her Jaune’s scroll before returning to be by his side. 

Neo looked down at the device. Then back to the scene in front of her. The doctor seemed to have everything under control. She wasn’t worried, so Neo decided she didn’t need to be either. Not anymore. 

Three voices outside started to get closer and closer to the storehouse. Neo assumed it was Jaune’s team. She needed to be quick. She sent a message from his scroll to hers, so she could have his number for later. If she was going to finish her vendetta against Cinder, she would need help. She set the phone down quietly so the man wouldn’t hear then glamoured herself as one of the village guards again just as the students ran into the building. 

Ruby immediately bypassed Neo and leapt straight at the man near Jaune. “Uncle Qrow! What happened to Jaune? How did you find us? “ 

The other two walked in and surrounded the boy. Neo took it as her chance to slip out unnoticed. But she couldn’t help herself. She stopped just outside of the storehouse to take one last look back. Jaune was breathing normally again. The man caught her last look. He seemed confused for an instant but gave her an understanding nod as he redirected Ruby’s attention towards the other side of the building. 

Neo walked as fast as she dared until she was out of the town and well into the forest off of the main road. She finally let herself fall to her knees and cried. She couldn’t tell if they were happy or sad tears, but they came out heavy and hard. Her sobbing eventually had to stop, but the pain in her heart felt a little bit lighter. 

Maybe, saving one of Cinder’s victims couldn’t bring Roman back, but it was a start. To something.


End file.
